Man arrested for exposing himself at women's boutique in Plaistow

JAMES A. KIMBLEUnion Leader Correspondent

PLAISTOW – A 24-year-old Honduran living in Massachusetts was arraigned Wednesday on charges that he exposed himself to a female clerk at a woman's boutique on Route 125 before being kicked out of the store.

Santiago Martinez Rodriguez, of Somerville, was ordered held on $2,500 bail following arraignment in 10th Circuit Court in Plaistow.

He is charged with indecent exposure and lewdness and disorderly conduct.

Police said they were called to the Simply Stunning Boutique Tuesday about 1:30 p.m. by the store clerk.

"She said the man came in and asked her questions but she had a hard time understanding him due to the language barrier," Officer Dorothy McGurren said in a sworn affidavit. "She told him it's a women's store. He dropped his pants (then exposed himself) and laughed at her," according to the affidavit.?

The man, later identified as Martinez-Rodriguez, then allegedly pulled his pants up and left the store.

Police questioned three men in a truck parked near the business shortly after they arrived on the scene.

Two of the men said they went to local eateries at the strip mall to get lunch, according to McGurren's affidavit.

One of the men told police that Martinez-Rodriguez went into a sandwich shop with him but did not stay, police said.

Police were told by a dispatcher that Martinez-Rodriguez had been deported from the U.S. once before.

The store clerk identified Martinez-Rodriguez as the man who exposed himself, prompting his arrest on the two charges, police said.

The two other men with Martinez-Rodriguez had no warrants and held valid driver's licenses, so they were free to leave, according to police.

Martinez-Rodriguez told police he had come to the U.S. roughly two years ago on a visa, but did not answer a question about whether it had expired.

"I asked if he is in the country illegally and he shrugged," McGurren said in the affidavit.

Court records did not specify when he was deported last from the U.S. An ICE deportation officer spoke with Martinez-Rodriguez as he was being booked at the police station, and later put a detainer on him for being in the country illegally.